General a Rod updates

May 13: Skychai Racing and Starlight Racing’s General a Rod galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Joel Barrientos. Trainer Mike Maker said he will school in the gate Thursday following his morning gallop.

Jim McCue\Maryland Jockey Club

Photos

May 13: Skychai Racing and Starlight Racing’s General a Rod galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Joel Barrientos. Trainer Mike Maker said he will school in the gate Thursday following his morning gallop.

Jim McCue\Maryland Jockey Club

May 18 -- Trainer Mike Maker said that General A Rod came out of his fourth-place Preakness finish “in good shape” but couldn’t make a definitive statement about the colt’s chances of being only the third horse to run in all three Triple Crown events this year (California Chrome and Ride On Curlin are confirmed for the Belmont Stakes).

Jack Wolf, managing partner of Starlight Racing, said Sunday morning that his group will confer with representatives from co-owner Skychai Racing later this week and decide on the colt’s future.

“I would like to run him in the Belmont,” Wolf said. “I’m a racing fan first and an owner second, and I’d like to see a Triple Crown. I’d like to win the Belmont, too.”

The son of Roman Ruler was only a head from finishing third in the Preakness behind show finisher Social Inclusion. The Gulfstream Park Derby winner finished eight lengths behind Preakness winner California Chrome.

May 16 -- Skychai Racing and Starlight Racing’s General a Rod was out on the Pimlico track shortly after 6 a.m. Friday for a 1 1/8-mile gallop under exercise rider Joel Barrientos.

Trainer Mike Maker said Friday’s rainy weather didn’t seem to have any effect on General a Rod, who had trained on wet tracks before, although all six of his starts have come on fast tracks.

“Everything’s good, we’re all set,” Maker said. “He’s got a great attitude. He never gets nervous about anything.”

General a Rod will be making his fifth start of the year, his lone victory coming in the ungraded Gulfstream Park Derby. He was second in the Fountain of Youth (G2) and third in the Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream before finishing a troubled 11th in the Kentucky Derby.

“His resume speaks for itself,” said Maker, who is saddling his first Preakness runner. “He’s run well with good horses in Florida. He’s a big, imposing horse. He just needs to run his race.”

Maker has plenty of respect for the Derby winner, but firmly believes his colt is in the upper echelon of his generation at this point. As for the Preakness, he’s optimistic.

“It’s just like every other race,” he said. “You need a good trip, a good set-up and to have everything go your way. Obviously, (California Chrome) is head and shoulders above everybody so far. He’s proved it, and every race, he’s continued to do so.”

Javier Castellano, who last was aboard General a Rod in his photo-finish defeat in the Fountain of Youth, returns to ride him in the Preakness.

May 15 -- Skychai Racing and Starlight Racing’s General a Rod made his regular early-morning appearance on the track at Pimlico to gallop a mile and a quarter, but trainer Mike Maker basically had to take the word of exercise rider Joel Barrientos for it. He and fellow Preakness contender Kid Cruz were both out at the same time.

“I don’t know,” Maker said when asked who won the galloping contest between the two. “It was too foggy for me to tell.”

That was the second concern for Maker in the past 12 hours or so at Pimlico. The first occurred at Wednesday’s post-position draw.

“It was all good until we drew the 2-hole,” the former D. Wayne Lukas assistant said. “It is what it is. Obviously the makeup of the race is going to decide (strategy). If he can get out, so be it. If he can’t there’s really nothing you can do, unless you plow somebody over. That’s why we’ll let (jockey) Javier (Castellano) decide.”

Starlight Racing’s managing partner Jack Wolf stopped by Barn D to check on the colt co-owned with Skychai Racing, who was named -- not for the famous Yankee third baseman, but -- for original owner J. Armando Rodriguez. Starlight and Skychai purchased the colt after his close third-place finish in the Florida Derby (G1) on March 29 at Gulfstream Park.

“I’ve always liked this horse since the first time I saw him on January First,” Wolf said. “He’s a fighter.”

Maker was the original trainer and retained his position in large part because of his past associations with Skychai. He was thrilled to remain General a Rod’s trainer.

“I’ve always had a lot of confidence in this horse,” Maker said. “He’s got a great attitude and he never gets nervous about anything. If he’s good enough, he’ll prevail. If not, we’ll find a softer spot next time.”

The Kentucky Derby was the first time he had been off the board in six career starts (11th) after breaking slowly and encountering typical Derby traffic.

General a Rod is actually still eligible for preliminary allowance conditions no matter what happens Saturday in the Preakness. Other than the maiden-breaking win in his first start at Keeneland in October, his only other victory came in a stakes race -- the ungraded Gulfstream Park Derby on his 3-year-old birthday New Year’s Day.

May 14 -- Skychai Racing and Starlight Racing’s General a Rod galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Joel Barrientos. Trainer Mike Maker said he will school in the gate Thursday following his morning gallop.

“Nothing out of character,” Maker said of the morning’s exercise. “He takes a good hold in his training, and here it’s been no exception. He gets over it good.”

Eclipse Award-winning jockey Javier Castellano, currently the nation’s leading rider, will be back aboard General a Rod for the Preakness. Joel Rosario rode him in the Kentucky Derby, in which he finished 11th after being steadied early and late, but he was committed to Ride On Curlin for the Preakness.

“He (Castellano) rode him well in the Fountain of Youth,” Maker said of the close second behind Wildcat Red on Feb. 22 at Gulfstream Park. “Anytime you can get him, you’ve got to be pleased.”

Castellano rode We Miss Artie to a 10th-place Derby finish, but trainer Todd Pletcher elected to skip the Preakness.

Maker and the connections of General a Rod decided to persevere in the Triple Crown series despite a troubled-trip seventh in the Kentucky Derby.

“Obviously it’s a prestigious race,” Maker said of the Preakness. “We’re not here just because it’s the Preakness. We have a lot of confidence in our horse, but having said that, we’ve got to really step up and get a fair shake this time.”

Maker worked as an assistant to five-time Preakness-winning trainer D. Wayne Lukas from 1993-2003 but wasn’t present at Pimlico for the three winners -- Tabasco Cat (1994), Timber Country (1995) and Charismatic (1999) during that tenure.

“I usually stayed back in Louisville, but the last couple years I came with him and got to see what it was like here,” said Maker, who has saddled horses in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, but not the Preakness until now. “I figure I’ve been doing this long enough that I should have an inclination by now. It might not be the right one, but we’ll see.”

The 45-year-old Michigan native went out on his own in 2004 and last spring saddled his 1,000th winner. He won 228 races and more than $8 million in purses last year.

May 13 -- Trainer Mike Maker was on the scene Tuesday morning for General a Rod’s first trip to the racetrack at Pimlico Race Course, supervising the colt’s 1 1/2-mile gallop under exercise rider Joel Barrientos.

“He really seems to like it here,” said Maker, the former D. Wayne Lukas assistant who is preparing his first Preakness runner. “He likes that big stall. He’s all sprawled every time I’ve seen him. Last night and this morning he was in the same spot, sprawled out and relaxed.”

The son of Roman Ruler is in the same location that trainer Doug O’Neil’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another occupied two years ago at the rear of Barn D. Maker said he’s hoping to glean some of that good fortune for the Gulfstream Park Derby winner.

Maker has had much more tangible exposure to Preakness success, having served alongside Lukas for more than a decade from 1993 to 2003, when the Hall of Famer won the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown with Tabasco Cat (1994), Timber Country (1995), and Derby winner Charismatic (1999). General a Rod wasn’t quite as successful in Louisville, finishing a troubled 11th.

“I didn’t think he had a fair shake,” said the 45-year-old Michigan native. “He had a rough trip and didn’t get to run his race. He came out of it well and with high energy. It’s the Preakness … we might as well give it another shot.”

General a Rod was a model of consistency before the Derby, never off the board in his first five starts, including a head defeat in the Fountain of Youth (G2) and a 1 1/2-length setback in the Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream in his final prep. Skychai Racing and Starlight Racing purchased the colt only days before the Kentucky Derby from J. Armando Rodriguez.

General a Rod has impressed his trainer with his consistency through his sophomore season.

“He’s been exactly the same,” Maker said. “Obviously he needs to get a little better, but, knock on wood, he’s had a string of great days for a long time.”

May 12 -- Gulfstream Park Derby winner General a Rod galloped Monday morning before departing Churchill Downs via van to Lexington for a flight to Baltimore.

Maker, who is scheduled to saddle his first Preakness starter Saturday, said there were two primary factors that led the connections to run back in two weeks after an 11th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

“He came out of his race good and it’s the Preakness,” Maker said. “It’s the second leg of the Triple Crown. If you’ve got a good horse, you want to be in it.”

General a Rod started from post 8 in the Kentucky Derby but was unable to utilize his normal tactical speed and get position. Once he was shuffled back to 16th through the first turn, he was never able to mount a serious threat to California Chrome.

“The distance wasn’t a concern,” Maker said. “He’s run at a mile and an eighth (Florida Derby, G1), too.”

General a Rod’s last win came at a mile, but he was second in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream and a close-up third in the Florida Derby.

General A Rod will run in the silks of Jim Shircliff, the largest investor in Skychai Racing, as he did in the Derby.

May 11 -- Skychai Racing LLC and Starlight Racing’s General a Rod galloped at Churchill Downs Sunday morning and is scheduled to arrived at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Monday at approximately 1:45 p.m.

“I’ve been a fan of the horse since I saw him run on Jan. 1 at Gulfstream (a head victory in the Gulfstream Park Derby),” said Starlight managing partner Jack Wolf, whose group joined Skychai in purchasing the colt from J. Armando Rodriguez days before his troubled 11th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. “We didn’t see the real General a Rod that day. I think he’s got a lot of good races in front of him.”

Trained by Mike Maker, General a Rod had never finished out of the money in five starts before encountering traffic in the Derby under jockey Joel Rosario. Eclipse Award-winning jockey Javier Castellano has been named to ride him in the Preakness with Rosario having already committed to Ride On Curlin.

“Javier gave the horse a very good ride in the Fountain of Youth,” Wolf said. “I think it was an easy choice for Mike when he came open. I think he’ll do a good job for us and the horse.”

General a Rod, a $72,000 yearling purchase, has already earned $282,000 and is set to be Maker’s first Preakness starter. He was third in the Florida Derby (G1), losing by only 1 1/2 lengths to well regarded Constitution in his final Derby prep.

May 10 -- General a Rod will run in the colors of Skychai Racing in the Preakness. Starlight Racing and Skychai Racing purchased the colt from its original owner J. Armando Rodriquez a few days before the Kentucky Derby.

Images: 139th Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Maryland

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Jim McCue\Maryland Jockey Club

California Chrome

Dual classic winner California Chrome leaves Pimlico Race Course for what is expected to be a four-hour van ride to Elmont, N.Y.